Foldable ironing-board.



A. LAURENT.

FOLDABLE IRONING BOARD.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 7, ms.

1 00,737. Patented Oct. 10,1916.

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UNTT STATES TET OFFTGE.

AUGUSTE LAURENT, OF NEW YGRK, N. Y.

FOLDABLE IRONING-BOARD.

Application filed. April 7, 1916.

To all whom it may concern Be it' known that I, Aucus'rn LAURENT, a citizen of the Republic of France, and a resident of New York, county and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Foldable Ironing- Boards, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates to a class of devices adapted to be used in the work of pressing clothes.

My invention has for its object primarily to provide a device, or ironing board designed to be employed for permitting clothes and other articles to be pressed by the use of an iron, and which is of a form whereby the device may be folded together in a man-. ner so as to be packed into a valise, or trunk, or the like for convenient use when a person is traveling as well as for being adapted to be stored in a'very limited space for utilization at home.

The invention consists essentially of a foldable member, or board, and a support on which the board member is hingedly mounted, the support being adapted to be elevated to sustain the board member when unfolded for use as well as to be folded in lapping arrangement on the bottom of the board member when not in use.

Other objects of the invention are to provide locking elements whereby the foldable member will be prevented from accidentally collapsing when in use; and to provide an ironing board of a simple, efficient and durable construction.

A practical embodiment of the invention is represented in the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all'the views, the said invention being more fully described hereinafter, and then pointed out in the claims at the end of the description. In the drawing, Figure 1 is a side elevation of one form of ironing board embodying my invention. Fig. 2' is an inverted plan, partly broken away, of the board. Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view taken on the line IIIIII of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a side view of the ironing board when folded.

The device has a foldable member, or board 10 which'may be of any suitable form, Y but this board member is preferably somewhat elliptical in shape. The board member 10 is composed of two sections of simi- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 10, 1916.

Serial No. 89,618.

lar lengths, as 11 and 12, having rectilinear opposed transverse edges, as shown, and these edge parts of the sections of the board members are hingedly connected by a cover, or pad, as 18, of cloth, or other flexible material provided on the top of the sections so as to encompass the entire board member as well as to overlap the edges of both of its sections. This cover, or pad is tacked, or otherwise removably fastened, as at 14:, to the edges of the sections of the board to allow of being replaced by a new cover when desired, and this flexible cover, as thus provided not only serves as an eflicient pad to allow pressing of articles to be properly accomplished in the usual manner, but also serves to permit the board member to be folded by swinging one section on the top of the other in overlapping arrangement.

The foldable board member 10 is mounted on a collapsible support 15 which is also foldable, and this support has a base-plate 16 which is preferably substantially rectangularv in shape. The base-plate 16 may be somewhat less in length than either of the sections 11 and 12 as well as being considerably less in width. Projecting upwardly from oneend of the base-plate 16 is a standard, or bar 17, and projecting upwardly from-the other end of the base-plate is a second standard, or bar .18 which is of a length corresponding to the standard 17. The inner surface of the lower end part of the standard 17 i is hinged, at 19, to the top surface of the base-plate 16, while the outer surface of the upper end part of this standard is hinged, at 20, to the underside of the central part of the section 12 of the board member, 10. The inner surface of the lower end part of the standard 18 is hinged, at 21, to the top surface of the base-plate 16. By pivoting, or hinging these standards in this manner to the base-plate, the standard 18 is adapted to be swung on top of the plate, and by guiding the base-plate with this standard folded thereon in a direction toward the free end of the section 12 of the board member the standard 17 will also be swung on top of the base-plate. The standards 17 and 18 are of lengths so that when folded on the base-plate 16, as shown in Fig. 5, their opposing ends will not overlap but will be on alinement, thereby allowing the collapsible support 15 to be disposed in overlapping arrangement on the underside of the section 12 of the board, the section 11 thereof being swung 50 as to lap on the section 12 when the device is folded. When the device is unfolded to elevate the board member 10 for use whereby an iron may be employed for pressing clothes and other articles, the section 11 of the board member is reversely swung from the top of the section 12 so that the sections of the board member will be opened out, and the baseplate 16 of the support 10 is guided downwardly from under the board member. The standard 17 will then be reversely swung to a vertical position, and'the standard 18 is likewise swung upwardly for the section 11 to rest on its free upper end, as illustrated in Fig. 1.

In order to releasably fasten the standard 18 to the board member against accidental movement, I provide a catch, as 22. The catch 22 may be of any desired type, for instance a form composed of a hook 23 which is pivoted to the upper end of the standard 18, and in the path of movement of this hook is an eye 2% which is arranged 011 the underside of the section 11 of the foldable board member 10. iVhen the foldable support is adjusted for elevating the board member the hook 23 is guided into engagement with the eye 24:, and the standard 18 will then be releasably fastened to this section of the board member. Serving to releasably retain the sections 11 and 12 also against accidentally collapsing, on the underside of the board member 10 is a look, as 25, and on the side edges of the board member are two other locks, as 26 and 27. The lock 25 is preferably composed of a bar, or plate, as 28, of an elongated flat shape, and one end of this bar is pivoted, at 29, to the underside of the section 12 of the board member so that when swung accord ingly its other end will be disposed in lapping arrangement on the underside of the section 11 of the board member. On the underside of the section 11 of the board member is a hook, as 30, which is arranged to removably receive the free end part of the bar 28 when guided thereinto, as well as to allow the bar to be disengaged therefrom by being reversely swung. The locks 26 and 27 are similarly formed, each preferably consisting of a rod 31, having both of its ends tapered, at 32 and 33, and one of these rods are disposed on each of the edges of the board member 10 so as to be guided lengthwise of the board back and forth across their hinged ends from one of its sec tions to the other. One of the corresponding ends of the bars 31 are slidably held in a set of spaced eyes, or rings, as 34; and 35, each set extending from one of the side edges of the section 11 of the board member, and projecting from the side edges of the section 12 of the board member so as to be in the path of movement of the rods are sets of spaced eyes, or rings 36 and 37 for removable reception of the rods 31.

When the device is unfolded for use by the sections of the board member 10 being extensibly arranged and the support 15 being arranged to elevate the board member, as above explained, the bar 28 of the lock 25 is moved into engagement with the hook 30, and the rods 31 of the locks 26 and 27 are guided in their respective sets of eyes 34 and 35 from the section 11 0f the board member so as to be partially inserted in the sets of eyes 36 and 37 of the section 12 of the board member. The rods 31 will thereby be disposed across the hinged ends of the sections of the board member, and the car 28 of the lock 25 will likewise be disposed for releasably holding the sections of the board mem ber against accidentally folding together. The sections of the board member are unlocked when desired by reversely guiding the bar 28 of the lock 25 from its engagement with the hook 30, and by reversely guiding the rods 31 from their engagement with the sets of eyes 36 and 37. To limit the movements of the rods 31 projecting laterally from one end part of each rod is a pin, or stop 38 for alternately contacting the eyes of the sets 34 and 35 of the section 11 in opposition to the eyes of the sets 36 and 37 of the section 12 when the rods are moved back and forth accordingly across these sections of the board member. In thismanner a simple and eflicient ironing board is provided of a form adapted to be folded in a valise, or trunk, or the like for convenient use to allow clothes and other articles to be pressed when a person is traveling as well as to permit the device to be stored in a very limited space for utilization at home.

In the foregoing description I have embodied the preferred form of my invention, but I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself'thereto, as I am aware that modifications may be made therein without departing from the principle, or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention, therefore I reserve to myself the right to make such changes as fairly fall within the scope thereof.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In a foldable ironing board, a base plate, supports hingedly connected to each end of said base plate, and a board member composed of two sections hingedly connected together, one of said sections being hingedly connected to one end of one of said supports, and the second section of said board being removably connected to the other one of said supports.

2. In a foldable ironing board, a base plate, supports hingedly connected to said base plate and adapted to fold inwardly over said plate and lie end to end thereon, and a board member composed of two sections hingedly connected together, one of said sections being hingedly connected to one of said supports, and the other of said sectionsbeing adapted to fold over said first mentioned section, together with means carried by said second support for detachably connecting the second of said ironing board sections thereto when in unfolded position, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. In a device of the character described, a board member composed of two hinged sections adapted to be folded in' overlapping arrangement one upon the other, a foldable support composed of a base-plate and two standards both hinged to spaced parts of the top of the base-plate, and one of the standards being hinged to one of the sections of the board member, the said standards being movable for elevating and sustaining the board member when the sections of the board member are unfolded, a catch for releasably locking the other standard to the second section of the board member, and

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the a lock on the board member for releasably holding the sections of the board member against accidentally collapsing.

4. In a device of the character described, a board member composed of two hinged sections adapted to be folded in overlapping arrangement one upon the other, a foldable' support composed of a base-plate and two standards both hinged to spaced parts of the top of the base-plate and one of the standards being hinged to one of the sections of the board member, the said standards being movable for elevating and sustaining the board member when the sections of the board member are unfolded, a catch for releasably locking the other standard to the second section of the board member, and a plurality of locks on the board member for releasably holding the sections of the board member against accidentally collapsing.

This specification signed and witnessed this sixth day of April, A. D. 1916.

AUGUSTE LAURENT. Witnesses:

GnoRcn F. BENTLEY, GEORGE GRANT.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

